Mechanism for automatically opening and closing garage doors



MECHANISM Fon AUTOMATICALLY OPENING AND CLOSING GARAGE DooRs E. R. FRANK Filed Jan. 25. 1928 Nov. 5, 1929.

Patented Nov. 5, 1929 UNITED STATES orrics EMIL R. FRANK, or' SIOUX CITY, IOWA, AssIGNoR on ONE-THIRD To WESLEY D.

GAMEL, oF sIoUx CITY, iowa ,n

MECHANISM non AUTOMATICALLY OIN'IG AND 'cIiosiNG GARAGE noons Application filed January 25,1958'. 'Serial No. 219,319.

This invention relates to mechanism adapted to be used in conjunction with a garage building and operated by the automobile as enters and leaves the garage for the purpose of opening and closing the doors thereof, and it consists in the novel features hereinafter described and claimed.

An object of the invention is to provide mechanism of the character stated which is io of simple and durable construction and which nia-y be readily installed in a garage building, the parts thereof being so arranged and con nected that when an automobile enters the garage the wheels thereof ride upon pivoted i5 ramp plates which are rocked and being' operatively connected with the doors of the garage close the same, the pivoted ramps and connections with the door being such that when the automobile starts to leavey the 2o garage the said ramp plates are rocked in a reverse direction whereby the doors of the garage are automatically openedso that the machine may pass out of the building. While the garage building is vacant or empty, the doors may he left in an open position so that the machine may readily enter the building without requiring the driver or operator 1to alight from the automobile foil opening tno doors.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a vertical sectional view of a gaia;C J building .showing the doors in open position and with the door controlling means applied,

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view. of the garage building and the door controlling means cut on the line 2 2 of Figure 1,

AFigure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view cut oh the line 3--3 of Figure 1 and showing io vthe door at open position, and i Figure 4 is a similar view showing the door aty closed position.

As illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the garage building 1 to which the device is applied may be of usual form or design,

provided in its front wall 2 with a door opening 3 having doors 4 hinged at the opposite sides thereof. The garage building is provided with a floor 5, at the rear end of which so are recesses 6-6 spaced apart to correspond with the. nood of en automobile, and within these are pivoted curved ramp plates i 7 each pivote'd intermediate its e'nd to have a rocking motion, wit-h that part of the plate immediately 'above -the pivot on a plane, approxim'ately, with 'the plane of the upper surface of the floor and the latter recessed, as shown in F ig. 1 to form a Vstop Afor limiting the rocking movement of the ramp plate in one direction. It will be noted that the ramp plates are each reinforced by a rib formed integrally at the inner Aside thereof, and that the rear end of `said 'rib terminates in 'an eye 7a for convenience i'n attaching the connections between said ram-p platesv 'and l the devices hereinafter described-operating directly on the doors for opening and closing the same. Bell crank levers 8 are pivote'd to the garage 'building at the upper inner edges 'of the doors one varnrof each lever being pivotally connected to the upper edge of the door, 'as at 9. A cable 10 is connected to the other arm of the bell crank lever and extends therefrom over a guide pulley 11 secured to the rear Wall of the 'garage and is attached to the 'eye 7 a at the rear end of the ramp plate, it being understood that this arrangement is duplicated with respect toeach 'door and companion ramp plate and that 'the disposition Aof the bell crank levers is such (see Figs. 3 and 4) that the doors will be closed by a [pull on the cables imparted thereto by 'downward movement of the rear ends of the ramp plates pivoted at the lower portion kof the ygarage buildingat thezsides of the door `opening, one end of each lever' being pivotally connected to the lower end of the door, as at 13,r and the otherend of the lever connected by cable 14 to the inner end of the ramp controlling the .opening of said door, said cable being guided by a pulley 15 secured in the rear end of the recess 6 in which the ramp plate operates. The intermediate portions of the cables 14 extend underthe floor and the inner ends of the said cables are connected to the eyes 7 at the inner ends of the ramp plates 7.

In operation, and assuming the parts to be in the positions as shown in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings the forward wheels of an ifm automobile, when it is run into the garage will ride on the ramp plates 7 and swing the said plates so that the rear ends thereof are moved from an upper position to a lowered position within the recess, and said plates will pull the cables l0 to operate the bell crank levers 8 to close the doors. At the same time, the bell-crank levers 12 operate to take up the slack on the cables 14 and the forward ends of the ramp plates are swung upward so that when the automobile is backed out of the garage the front wheels will depress said forward ends of the ramp plates to rock them and thereby operate the bell-crank levers l2 for automatically opening the doors. As the front wheels of the automobile leave the ramp plates, they travel upon the upper surface of the floor and the ramp plates 7 return to their normal position as shown in Figures l and 2 of the drawings or in position to close the doors when the automobile is again driven into the garage.

From the above description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that mechanism for automatically opening and closing the doors of a garage, of simple and durable form, is provided, and that the parts are operatively connected with the doors in such manner that when theautomobile machine enters the garage the doors are automatically closed behind the automobile machine, and when the automobile machine starts to leave the garage the doors are automatically opened.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as newis:

In combination with a garage building having hinged doors and spaced apart recesses in the floor at distance from the doors, upwardly curved ramp plates pivoted intermediate their ends in said recesses to have a rocking movement therein, that part of the ramp plates immediately above the pivots being on a plane approximately Vwith the floor of the garage, and each of said plates having a rib at its underside tern inating in an eye, bell-crank levers pivoted to the door frame at the upper and lower ends of the doors and connected thereto for opening and closing the same, and cables connected to the eyes of the ramp plates and extending in opposite directions therefrom to the aforementionec bell-crank levers at the upper and lower ends of the doors respectively.

Y EMIL R. FRANK. 

